Dec. 14, 1876] 



NATURE 



139 



(1864-75). The very valuable publication he undertook 

 along with M. Helmersen, " Beitrjige zur Kenntniss des 

 russichen Reich s," numbers twenty-six volumes, and con- 

 tinued to appear until within the last few years. Von Baer 

 continued to work up to the very last, and he has left 

 behind him a large quantity of manuscripts and un- 

 finished works. 



Von Baer was undoubtedly one of the most accom- 

 plished investigators of the present century. . Haeckel 

 speaks of him thus : — " If among living scientific inves- 

 tigators there is one who justly enjoys universal honour 

 and respect it is Katl Ernst Baer ; and if classical and in 

 the best sense natural philosophical writers will admire a 

 Coryphccus of to-day, an unsurpassed example of exact 

 observation and philosophic reflexion, let them go to the 

 * Entwickelungsgeschichte' of this head master of our 

 science." Helmersen speaks of the late biologist as follows 

 in the .5"/. Petersburger Zeitung : — " With Baer departs a 

 man such as is rarely met with in any century, a genial 

 man of science and research, endowed with a penetra- 

 ting critical intellect, with unusual faculty of observation, 

 with perseverance and energy in work. The earth and 

 its inhabitants were the great field of his research, and he 

 brought to his work not only a deep philosophic training, 

 but also an equipment of the profoundest knowledge in 

 several departments of natural science which few of the 

 great spirits of our time have possessed. This great, 

 comprehensive, but profound knowledge, which he to the 

 day of his death continued to increase and turn to use, 

 combined with the determination to trace things to their 

 ultimate grounds and by means of keen and unpreju- 

 diced, clearly arranged, and thoughtful observations to 

 discover the truths and the laws of nature, stamp all his 

 works with a monumental character which they will pre- 

 serve for all time. The widely-known name of Baer is 

 written in large lettters in the book of science and its 

 history." 



We hear that a subscription will be opened among all 

 the scientific bodies of which von Baer was a member for 

 the founding of a scholarship in his name, or for any 

 other scientific purpose worthy of the name of the great 

 natural philosopher. 



DA VI D FORBES 



AT the comparatively early age of forty-eight the busy 

 life of Mr. David Forbes has been brought to a 

 close. Like his distinguished brother Edward, he has 

 been unexpectedly cut off before much of the immense 

 mass of knowledge he had acquired has been put in a 

 form to be of use to others. He was always looking for- 

 ward to a time of less active occupation, when he might de- 

 vote his principal attention to putting on record the results 

 of his many years' investigations. What there may be in 

 the piles of manuscript he has left that will be available 

 for use, there has not yet been time to ascertain. For the 

 last five years the most important papers he wrote were 

 the half-yearly reports for the Iron and Steel Institute, 

 but among his earlier papers there will be recollected 

 " The Relation of Silurian and Metamorphic Rocks in 

 the South of Norway," and " The Geology of Bolivia and 

 South Peru." Alluding to his connection with the Iron 

 and Steel Institute, the organ of that society has just 

 written : — " In his capacity of Foreign Secretary he has, 

 almost from the foundation of the institute, rendered most 

 essential icrtnce, and has in no inconsiderable degree 

 contributed to that rapid prosperity which has character- 

 ised its operations. His exhaustive reports on the foreign 

 iron and steel industries which appeared in the Journal 

 were most valuable, as they embraced everything going 

 on in connection with the iron trade all over the world. 

 The wonderful linguistic accomplishments of Mr. Forbes 

 enabled him. to deal easily with the publications of all 



countries where iron and steel is made. His name was 

 so well known abroad that the leading people connected 

 with the technological features of ironmaking most readily 

 furnished full details of what was going on in each 

 country ; and through his influence mainly the institute 

 speedily assumed a' recognised position abroad." 



Mr. Forbes joined the Geological Society in 1853, and 

 since February, 1871, has been one of the secretaries. 

 He was also a Fellow of the Chemical Society. In June, 

 1856, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He had 

 travelled extensively in many parts of the world. All the 

 family of the Manx Forbeses have been great travellers. 

 Dr. Wilson, in his memoir of Edward Forbes, has men- 

 tioned many of his relatives who died out of Europe. Mr. 

 David Forbes, as a consulting engineer, had an extensive 

 practice, and was often summoned abroad. His death 

 occurred at his house on 'Tuesday, December 5, and on 

 Monday, the nth, his remains were laid in the Kensal 

 Green Cemetery, in the presence of the Presidents of the 

 Geological and Chemical Societies and many scientific 

 friends. 



THE GLACIATION OF THE SHETLAND ISLES 



TN the Geological Magazine for May and June, 1870, 

 -*■ my colleague. Dr. Croll, first pointed out that the 

 Scotch and Scandinavian ice-sheets probably united on 

 the floor of the North Sea, and thence moved northwards 

 towards the Atlantic. He was led to this conclusion by a 

 consideration of the peculiar direction of the striae in 

 Caithness, in Shetland, and the Faroe Isles, as well as 

 by the occurrence of marine shells in the boulder clay of 

 the northern parts of Caithness. He showed that the 

 enormous mer de s,lace which pressed out on all sides 

 from Scandinavia forced its way close to the Scotch coast- 

 line, and in virtue of its greater size produced a slight 

 deflection of the Scotch ice, causing it to over-ride por- 

 tions of the main land. He stated that in all likelihood 

 both the Shetland and the Faroe Isles were over-topped 

 by the Scandinavian ice in its onward march towards the 

 Atlantic. 



During a recent traverse in Shetland I obtained evi- 

 dence which tends to strengthen this remarkable theory. 

 In the north island of Unst, the direction of the striee, 

 the boulders on the surface, and the stones in the till, 

 clearly indicate that this island was glaciated by a mass 

 of ice moving from east to west. The proofs of conti- 

 nental glaciation, which are comparatively clear in the 

 north, are obscured in a great measure in the main island 

 by the effects of a local ice-sheet. The nature of the 

 boulder clay, as well as the trend of the striee in various 

 localities, show that the movement of this local sheet 

 was influenced by the general features of the country. 

 In addition to these markings, however, others were 

 found which could not have been produced by ice shed- 

 ding off the land in the ordinary way. These cross the 

 island, regardless of its physical features, and are often 

 at right angles to the newer set. Lastly, the wide distri- 

 bution of morainic matter with groups of moraines indi- 

 cate the gradual disappearance of the local ice-sheet and 

 the presence of small glaciers, where the ground pre- 

 sented favourable conditions for their development. 



The islands are dotted over with small lochs ; the most 

 of these lie in peat or drift, while others occupy true rock 

 basins. The singular absence of marine terraces ought 

 not to escape notice, as bearing on the recent geological 

 history of these islands, since the voes or sea-lochs are 

 admirably adapted for their preservation. 



These observations will be described in detail in a 

 forthcoming paper before the Geological Society. 



John Horne 



Geological Survey of Scotland, Nairn, N.B,, 

 November 29 



